It's very rare for papers to be accepted if they don't use a standard font...you could get away with that up to high school...not in college though. So when you're stuck with Times New Roman, you have to be a bit more sneaky ;p

1) All papers that I hand in have to be double spaced. However, I set the line spacing to "2.2" - you really can't tell the difference

2) Same thing with page margins. Instead of 1 inch margins, I make them 1.1 inch margins.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but it really does add up!

Basically all you have to do is take advantage of the fact that TAs have dozens of papers to grade, so they won't catch on the "little details" that you add

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1 and 2 would be caught by my English teacher, he would measure EVERY paper with a ruler. I once set it to 1.05 inch margins and I got marked down for it. 2.2 line spacing would have been caught as well.

Yea, those margin and spacing tricks will get you caught, at least at my university.

Most professors require that you submit the digital copy and the paper copy. Some (especially in the CompSci department) use the digital copies in automated tests for spacing and margins. Some also use tools and websites like turnitin.com that test and score papers for Plagiarism.

You are better off using that time to add B.S. and restating facts to add more content.

Every single one of my papers I have ever submitted has been showing up on turnitin.com as plagiarism. I played the system though, I put the papers up on my website Every single last paper I have ever written is up on a website of mine that turnitin crawls, or sees, and thus each paper is an exact copy. Teachers have asked me not to do that, but they could not fail me since it was not plagiarism. I even had to get one teacher to admit I should get the A I deserved even-though they gave me an F. I went straight to my high schools principal, got the A i deserved.

I loved writing. Unfortunately, I was typically limited to a certain word count or page count

Instead of wasting time getting around limits, use that time to fill the space with useful work

Short-cuts may cut short your life (ok, that works better as a driving reference but you know what I mean).

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I love writing too, but it's really hard to get excited writing about some topics, but sometimes **** gets in the way, even if you do try to be perfect in everything you do. And, why should you have to add useless fluff to a paper? I use to be very verbose, now I'm all for being concise.

I only had to do this for the couple of gen-ed requirements I had to take. When it got into technical papers content mattered not length. My final thesis was 130 pages, single spaced with Times New Roman!